on Aqaba

I had the chance to stay in Aqaba for three days at the beginning of this semester, it was my first time there and we were supposed to visit all the new projects and have an idea about what is going on there. I honestly was very excited to see this part of Jordan, but it was nothing like I expected it to be, and maybe the reason behind this is that I just didn’t see the real Aqaba. The part I saw was an Ammani like circle, with all the junk food restaurants and coffee shops, a couple of 5 stars hotels, and some huge fancy resort projects. There was a possible public beach “Aqua Marine Park” which I’m not pretty sure it’s public because I haven’t seen a single local anywhere there.

Throughout the trip I heard a lot of talking about the development plan of Aqaba which includes preserving the shores and introducing sustainable designs to the city which in fact is an excellent approach. But obviously the aim is to transform it into a big fancy resort that pumps up money to the city or whoever is behind those projects. its already happening on a small scale in Tala-bay for example, which I really despise. The other turn was Ayla Oasis, a very ambitious project, still under construction and expected to be ready in 9 or 10 years. With a total cost of 1.5 billion they are building a huge complex under the concept of creating an “Arabian Venice”!! I just don’t get it! So the ultimate goal now is to turn Aqaba into a wanna-be Venice??? I mean at least have some dignity and promote it in a proper way.

Anyway, I wanted to go to any public beach or port, even the fish market but I’ve been told that it’s full of nawar “vulgars” and it’s not safe to go in there! I don’t really believe all this crap, but I was out of directions and company, so there’s a whole part of the city that I didn’t get the chance to visit but I’m pretty sure it’s totally different from what I’ve seen.

It just saddens me to see all this happening; we are losing the last pieces of something called identity.